Vessels like barges, offshore oil rigs and ships require tugboats to tug them when they have broken down or need repairing. Tugboats not only tug the large ships next to their docks, they also provide an efficient way of moving freight along the coasts.
Working on a tugboat does not require you to be away from home for many months, as compared to let’s say a chemical tanker which might set you apart from your family up to 9 months. Employment on the tugboats is one of the many maritime job areas that people can explore in.
Working on a tugboat can be an interesting career path as you get the opportunity to work with fellow seafarers to tow a wide variety of vessels and the working environment can be very dynamic.
There are four key positions on the tugboat namely, Deckhand, Engineer, Mate and Captain. There may be rankings within the positions and there could be multiple seafarers working as deckhands, engineers or officers.
Depending on your position, you can handle tasks ranging from helping with docking, monitoring mechanical systems to managing crew operations.
If you are a seafarer looking for jobs on tugboats, you can find many job postings on Crewing Online website at https://www.ecrewingonline.com/#/job
Do head over there to check out the latest maritime job postings.